


Moonlight Cat

by upsetrise



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-06-07 10:37:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6800341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/upsetrise/pseuds/upsetrise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Adrien is a prince cursed to turn into a cat every full moon and the only way to cure it is to find the person who cursed him in the first place. When his secret his discovered on the night of his fifteenth birthday party by Marinette. She decides to help him find the person who cursed him whilst trying to keep secrets of her own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Prologue 

Marinette helped her father carry the boxes of ingredients back to their bakery. His father was besides himself with joy as he carried them through the door.

“Papa, do you think you’ll be able to make the cake for Prince Adrien’s birthday?” She asked closing the door behind her.

Her Papa nodded, his big beefy hands reaching for the box that she was carrying. It had been a complete surprise when a servant from the palace had knocked on the bakery’s door. Marinette herself had answered it. She had to write most of the order down in complete shock, why on earth King Gabriel had wanted her own Papa to make a birthday cake was beyond him. The King was a stern man who didn’t show his face often in public. However Marinette had stopped herself from taking the order.

Prince Adrien, was everything and more. She had only seen him in his royal appearances but that didn’t stop her from crushing on him. In fact she even owned a portrait of him that a street artist had done, hidden behind her wardrobe. She couldn’t let her family know about her infatuation with him. Even if Adrien was stunningly handsome. 

His birthday was tomorrow and her Papa hadn’t even started on making the cake yet. She couldn’t help him as she had ‘duties’ to attend to. Things that she couldn’t even tell her parents about. 

“Marinette why don’t you go and get some rest. You have school tomorrow.” Her Mom said walking in with the last box. 

“I will Mom.” She said and kissed her on the cheek. Marinette wasn’t tired yet still quickly ran up the stairs and locked the door. Double checking so that nobody could come in, she reached down underneath her bed and pulled out an old mask that she had made. It was only a piece of red cloth with black dots that were the result of a ink spillage. It had eye slits cut in but she tied it around her head before grabbing the rest of her get up. This included a white blouse and a man’s black leather’s trousers that she had brought at one of the market stalls a while back. To complete the look were her favourite pair of riding boots that she often wore when even she snuck out at night. 

Once she was ready, she opened the window and took a deep breath. Outside the sun had begun to set and the evening had set upon the kingdom. Marinette jumped down from her window with ease. She was hoping that it was going to be a quiet night as she didn’t want to be tired for the Prince’s birthday tomorrow. She was quite excited that she was allowed to be a part of the catering. 

The city’s rooftops were her favourite people as she could see the people of the streets heading home and children following their parents. Everybody was trying to make a living in the kingdom but it had still fallen on hard times. Children were still starving and crime was at an all time high. The king’s guard weren’t doing much about it either so Marinette had taken it into her own hands.

“Stop Thief!” She heard from a street away and looked to see a young boy running with a apple in his hand. Marinette smiled and started to run after. This was what she lived for, stopping crime. She dropped down to stop the thief.

Nobody could know that she was the masked vigilante known as Ladybug not even her own parents.


	2. Chapter 2

1

Tomorrow came like a blanket being folded over. Marinette woke up, feeling slightly tired. She had been up most of the night, trying to put any stops to crime that she had seen. There had been a few successful attempts but most of it had ended in failure. She stretched her arms to see the discarded clothes on the floor and quickly picked them up.

A footstep sounded on the stairs and Marinette panicked holding the clothes. She shoved the clothes underneath her bed and sat on the bed as the door opened and her father appeared.

"Marinette, we will be heading out soon to the palace. We have to set things up for the Prince's birthday." Her papa said with a wide smile.

Marinette nodded, smiling and trying to keep her composure. "Yes Papa, I'll be down in a second." She replied and watched as he closed the door. It was then she let out an excited scream. She was going to the palace and there would be in the presence of Adrien! This would be the closest that she would ever get to him.

She got dressed quickly choosing to put a pinafore on that she had designed. Marinette also picked up a bag that she put one of her favourite dresses into and headed downstairs for the party later on.

Her mother had gotten all the supplies into a few more bags and some more boxes that they would take to the palace with them.

"Good morning Mama." Marinette kissed her mother on the cheek.

"Hello dear. I'm sorry for waking you up early but we wanted to make sure everywhere was locked away before you headed off to school."

Marinette nodded and reached for a croissant that her mother had freshly baked. Steam was still rising off it as she grasped it into a cloth to eat for later. She gave one more kiss to her papa and then she was out onto the street and heading to school.

The school was a blur of students and she spotted her friend Alya busy scribbling in a notebook as she eyed the students.

"Still trying to write whatever you see, Alyla?" Marinette said from behind her.

Ally jumped a mile and then turned to face Marinette. "I was just writing something about Chloe. You know how she likes to brag."

"I don't really care about Chloe. Not since she ruined that costume I designed." Marinette sighed.

"I know, you cared about that dress so much. It's a shame she ruined, claiming that it was an 'accident'." Ayla made quotation marks in the air.

"I know, I bet she's been bragging about being invited to Adrien's birthday. Her father is the head of the council after all."

Ayla smiled and then nudged her. "But aren't you going as well? I heard rumours that your papa had been allowed to cook the buffet for the party. This may be your chance to get to know him."

Marinette's face turned red and she faked a laugh. "No, no! I'm going but I would never get near the Prince. I'll probably just stay at the side and serve the food." Just the thought of being near the prince was scary enough. What if she said something wrong? What if he didn't like her?

"You'll be fine Marinette. If you be yourself you may even get to have a conversation with him," Ayla smiled and grabbed onto her hand. "Now come we'd better get to class, you don't want to be late!"

Once they reached their classroom, Chloe was flaunting an invitation about in front of the rest of class's eyes. "Guess what this is?" She said as soon as she saw Marinette and her eyes narrowed. A perfect smirk forming on her lips.

"Only an invitation to the prince's 15th birthday." She made sure to put it right underneath Marinette's nose. "Aren't you jealous?"

"She's not." Ayla butted in.

Chloe frowned and moved the invitation away, putting a hand on her hip. "Hmm and why would that be?"

"She's going to the party already!" Ayla shouted, answering for Marinette.

Marinette gulped. Why did Ayla have to shout? The students around her all began to whisper and gave her surprised stares.

Chloe looked a little rustled but she changed her expression pretty quickly and scoffed. "She's probably only been invited because of the food. It's not like she would actually go." She laughed then and went to sit down on her seat.

Marinette looked at the floor. She didn't even want to look at Chloe for the rest of the day. She just went to her seat with Ayla joining her on the opposite site.

"Ayla you didn't have to announce it to the whole classroom. I could have just said it to her." Marinette whispered.

"You wouldn't have. You need to stand up to her more Marinette, she's too used to you being a pushover." Her best friend shook her head at her and Marinette tried to sink further into her chair.

"I don't want to cause a scene." Marinette replied biting her lip.

"Sometimes causing a scene is the only way." Ayla said back but Marinette couldn't reply because the teacher had come in at that point.

The rest of the school day passed pretty quickly with Marinette burying herself in her school work. It worked and distracted her from Chloe who was being more of a nuisance than usual. She kept flinging paper balls at Marinette who just ignored them. Once school was over, she could forget about her.

When school was over, Marinette raced out of the classroom with Ayla hot on her trail. Once she was outside, she felt like she could breath again and began her walk back home.

"Marinette you still need to do something about her." Ayla said stopping in the street.

"I know but can I just go home, Ayla?" Marinette said.

Ayla nodded. "Of course but don't forget to tell me what happens tomorrow! This is a special night. I hope you get close to Prince Adrien."

"So do I!" Marinette called with a laugh as she went back home to the bakery. She could ignore Chloe for the rest of the night. All that mattered was that she was going to see the prince!

/

Later that night, Marinette was standing next to her father as he put the finishing touches on the cake. The party had begun but the prince had yet to be seen. She had put her herself near the stairs so that she could occasionally glance up at the them just to see him but all she had seen where a few guests that had come through.

The palace ballroom was a grand specular to admire. From the top of the stairs, it lead down to a large floor with the party buffet at the side. An orchestra was playing on the opposite side, their violins and piano adding to the buzz of noise that was being created from the guests as they began to mingle by the open grand window. The sun had begun to set creating a long shadow in the room.

Everyone looked so nice, they were dressed up in suits and dresses that Marinette was sure must have been custom made, it made her feel a little bit scared of showing her own custom made dress. She had covered it up with an apron for now because of serving food to the guests.

All the daughters and sons of the lord and ladies were here. Prince Adrien was pretty popular. Guards flanked the sides as Marinette double checked once again. She wanted him to arrive, she wanted to say hi to him even if she was nervous. Her good mood was soon watered down though when she noticed Chloe arriving.

She had dressed herself up in a pink dress that flowed around her as she walked. A flower garland was around her blonde hair in a bun. Marinette thought she actually looked nice, which was something that she was never going to admit.

Chloe walked down the stairs and noticed Marinette behind the table. She smirked and walked over.

"Look at you. Just as pathetic as ever. The prince isn't even going to look at you." Chloe smiled, picking a strawberry off the table and putting it into her mouth as Marinette clenched her fists. If she just ignored her, then she would shut up. She wanted attention and Marinette wasn't going to give it to her.

"I was talking to you." Chloe turned and reached her arm across. She was going to grab Marinette by the arm but just in time her Papa turned around.

"Are you okay Marinette?" He asked, his head titled.

Chloe drew back quickly and pretended to look at the floor.

"Yes I'm okay Papa." Marinette said hoping that he couldn't the perspiration that had begun to gather. She didn't want it to ruin her makeup but Chloe was scaring her now. She looked back at Chloe and the two of them exchanged a glance. Chloe scoffed and then walked away.

Marinette let out a heavy sigh. So ignoring her clearly didn't work then. She looked to her papa who was still giving her a worrying glance. "You can take off you apron off now, sweetheart. You should enjoy yourself." He said with a smile.

She smiled and hugged him. "Thank you Papa!" She said taking the apron off. "I will come back to help later!"

He waved off. "No it doesn't matter! Your mother will be here soon. You should enjoy yourself!"

Marinette nodded and unwrapped her apron and placed it in a box behind her. She was wearing a red dress with various spots. She had made it in momentum to 'Ladybug'. She just hoped that no-one would put two and two together.

She walked onto the ballroom and stared around at the guests. They all were talking to each other and it made her pang for Ayla. She felt a little alone among these guests, she was a lone branch standing in a garden full of flowers and Adrien was the tree who stood among them, if he ever arrived that was.

Suddenly she felt a tap from behind her and turned around to see Chloe with a drink that she spilt all over Marinette.

"Oh I'm so sorry Marinette! It was just an accident!" Chloe laughed looking at the drenched girl.

Marinette looked at the floor. Her dress was ruined, all that hard work gone.

"Chloe. That wasn't an accident." A male's voice said from behind Marinette.

"Oh Adrien! Even if it wasn't I was just showing Marinette her place. She shouldn't even be here."

Marinette turned around to see Prince Adrien in all his glory. His blonde hair was long and tidy, just like in the portrait. His eyes were a piercing green that reminded her of a cat and he was adorned in a black suit that suited him quite well.

"I'm sorry about Chloe." He said smiling down at Marinette. She froze. What was she supposed to say? The prince had actually acknowledged her.

"No, it's okay…I," Marinette stammered looking around. She needed to get changed.

Prince Adrien laughed. "Come on, I'll give you a towel."

Before Marinette could protest she found herself being pulled along towards the stairs and up past the guards. They gave her strange glances but let her pass because she was with the Prince. Once they were through the doors, they found themselves in another hallway with a bench in the middle of a large portrait gallery. Marinette looked around to see portraits of the prince and his father pasted everywhere.

Adrien disappeared behind a door and came out a minute later carrying a towel handing it to Marinette.

"Thank you." Marinette said quickly grabbing it and trying to dry herself to the best of her ability. She didn't want to think about the state that she was in.

"It's okay. I never thought Chloe would do something like that. She always seemed so nice." Adrien sighed and stared up at the ceiling.

Marinette noticed that he was a couple of inches taller than her. He then looked back down and smiled. "I guess everyone has different sides though." He finished. Marinette found herself blushing and hid herself behind the towel.

"Yeah I guess." She replied. She wanted to stay underneath the towel forever.

Adrien laughed and removed the towel. "You don't need to hide underneath the towel. You still look great."

Marinette was a tomato. "Thank you again. I should be getting back."

She took the towel off and placed it on the bench before she began to head back to the ballroom.

"Wait." Prince Adrien called and Marinette turned around seeing him standing with his head hung low.

"What is it?"

"Don't leave. It's very rare that I get to talk to people like this. My father keeps me locked away and these parties he invites the guests so it's rare to see someone new. You're the baker's daughter, right?"

"Yes. How can he keep you locked away? You must be very popular."

Adrien shook his head. "No my father knows these children. I rarely talk to them. In fact the only person I've really talked to is Chloe and I thought she was nice so it's surprising to see her act that way."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Marinette staying put. This was surprising, Prince Adrien knew who she was?

"No I shouldn't be telling you this." Adrien laughed putting rubbing his neck with his hand. "You're Marinette right?"

Marinette found herself smiling. "Yes and you can tell me all you want. I won't tell a soul." She put her fingers on her lip.

"That's good to know. Your dress, it reminds me of that vigilante Ladybug. It's quite beautiful."

Marinette's head snapped up and her heat began to beat frantically. He had just called her dress beautiful. "Thank you, I made it myself. Do you like Ladybug?"

"Of course, putting a stop to crime all night. I would love to meet her but no-one knows who she is. If my mother was here, she would probably know. She always seemed to know everything." Adrien said with a heavy sigh and he looked at portrait of a beautiful woman who was very reminiscent of Adrien.

"Is that your mother?" Marinette asked moving closer to him.

"Yes but about five years ago, she disappeared and no-one knows where she went." Adrien sighed.

"I'm sure she'll come back…" Marinette trailed off. The queen's disappearance had been kept quiet. Marinette had only been ten when she had vanished. She couldn't remember much about it.

"Maybe. It was the night of the full moon she went missing." Adrien said looking at a closed curtain. Suddenly the hallway felt dark and Marinette moved across to the window before deciding to pull the curtain open and exposing the moonlight as the night sky moved in.

Adrien looked up quickly. "Wait no! Don't open the curtain!" He cried but it was already too late as the exposed moonlight hit him and there was a flash. Marinette gasped as she took a step back because once where they had been Prince Adrien sat a black cat with piercing green eyes in a bundle of the prince's clothes.


End file.
